Monthly Archives: May, 2018

George Jones and The Jones Boys-Live In Texas 1965. Label: Ace Records. By 1985, singer-songwriter George Jones was approaching his fifty-fourth birthday and was once again, one of the giants of country music, and had thirteen number one country hits to his name. This included the four he had released since he made his comeback …

Don Ellis-Shock Treatment and Don Ellis and His Orchestra-Autumn. Label: BGO Records. Bandleader, composer and trumpeter Don Ellis’ life was changed forevermore in 1974, when he was diagnosed with an abnormal heart condition, and a year later, in 1975, suffered his first heart attack which very nearly cost him his life. Fortunately, Don Ellis recovered …

Nuke The Soup-Deeper. Label: Meteor Records. Released Date: ‘30th’ of May 2018. Singer, songwriter and musician Mark Davison founded Cubic Feet in the eighties, and his new band released their debut single Across The River in 1989, which was the start of a recording career that spanned three decades and saw the band enjoy a …

The Beginning Of The End: The Existential Psychodrama In Country Music (1956-1974)-Record Store Day 2018. Label: The Iron Mountain Analogue Research. For Records Store Day 2018, staff at record labels all over the world had been working hard for many months on nearly 500 reissues and lovingly curated compilations, which were due to be released …

Thelonious Monk-Monk. Label: Music On Vinyl. By the time Thelonious Monk began recording Monk, which was his seventh album for Columbia Records, the forty-seven year old pianist was a vastly experienced musician who had already released over twenty albums on Blue Note, Prestige and Riverside Records. However, since Thelonious Monk signed to Columbia, he had recorded …

Shirley Davis and The Sliverbacks-Wishes and Wants. Label: Tucxone Records. Two years after Shirley Davis and The Sliverbacks released their critically acclaimed debut album Black Rose in March 2016, the London-born soul diva her backing band return with their much-anticipated sophomore album Wishes and Wants which has just been released by Tucxone Records. The release of …

Steve Tibbettss-Life Of. Label: ECM Records. Although Minnesota born composer and guitarist Steve Tibbetts signed to ECM Records in 1981, the pioneer of sound-forming has only released nine albums for Manfred Eicher’s Munich-based label. This includes Life Of which has just been released by ECM Records, and is the much-anticipated followup to Natural Causes, which was …

Motown Funk 2-Record Store Day 2018 Edition. Label: UMC. By 1959, Detroit based songwriter, producer and future musical impresario Berry Gordy Jr had already discovered The Miracles and started to build a successful portfolio of recording artists. There was only one problem, what would Berry Gordy Jr do with these talented artists and groups? It …

Datashock-Kräuter der Provinz. Label: Bureau B. Release Date: ‘25th’ of May 2018. Ever since Datashock was founded in the city Saarlouis, in Southwestern Germany in 2003, the neo-hippie-spook-folk collective’s lineup has been fluid, with members leaving and joining the group over the last fifteen years. By the time Datashock entered the studio to record the …

Johnny Rivers-No Through Street. Label: BGO Records. As 1983 dawned, Louisiana born singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer Johnny Rivers had just turned forty, and had been a professional musicians since 1956. Back then, he was still known Johnny Ramistella when formed he his own band The Spades, who later that year, released their debut single. …

Too Slow To Disco Brazil Compiled By Ed Motta. Label: How Do You Are. It was back in 2014 when the German label How Do You Are released the first instalment in the Too Slow To Disco compilation series, which was one of the first compilation series to revisit West Coast sound, which provided the …

Linda Perhacs-I’m A Harmony Record Store Day 2018 Edition. The Linda Perhacs story is a case of what might have been for the seventy-five year old singer-songwriter who nowadays, is regarded as the true Queen of psychedelic folk. Linda Perhacs career began in 1970, when she released her debut album Parallelograms on Kapp Records. Sadly, Parallelograms which nowadays, is regarded …

Temple-Temple. Label: Mental Experience. Ever since the birth of rock ’n’ roll, there’s been many short-lived record labels, including small, obscure local labels founded to release privately pressed albums, to regional labels that released just a handful of singles before closing their doors for the last time. Other labels lasted slightly longer, but were hardly …

Melvin Sparks-Texas Twister-Record Store Day Edition. Label: Tidal Waves Music. Although American jazz and blues guitarist Melvin Sparks enjoyed a career that spanned five decades, the most fruitful period of his career was the seventies, when he released five albums between 1970 and 1975. Melvin Sparks’ career began at Prestige Records, where he released a …

Black Moon Circle-Psychedelic Spacelord. Label: Crispin Glover Records. New Album Of The Week. Six years ago, brothers Øyvin and Vemund Engan founded the psychedelic space rock band Black Moon Circle, and since then, this talented band from Trondheim, in Norway, have released five albums. Soon, five will become six when the newly expanded lineup of …

Three Six Nine! The Best Of Shirley Ellis. Label: Ace Records. The ‘16th’ of June 1954 was a proud day for twenty-five year old singer-songwriter Shirley Ellis, when she registered her first songwriting copyrights with Library Of Congress. This she hoped would be the start of a successful songwriting career that would transform her fortunes …

Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids-An Angel Fell. Label: Strut. Bruce Baker in was born in 1951, and grew up in Chicago, before moving to Ohio, where he studied at Antioch College, which was where he first encountered jazz pianist Cecil Taylor and became part of his Black Music Ensemble. Cecil Taylor also mentored Idris Ackamoor, …

Mouvements-Mouvements. Label: Mental Experience. In the late-sixties, self-taught guitarist and jazz aficionado Christian Oestreicher, who was later described as: “a savage in the era of twist and free jazz,” met artist and painter Richard Reimann who was famous for his optical art, at the renowned Aurora art gallery in Geneva, Switzerland. This was the start …

Nickodemus-A Long Engagement. Label: Wonderwheel Recordings. Brooklyn-based producer Brian J Nickodemus Nickodemus was only fourteen when he made his DJ-ing debut behind the wheels of steel, and just like many before him, he was hooked. Soon, he was playing out on a regular basis and throwing his parties where he played everything from hip hop …

Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin-Awase. Label: ECM Records. Pianist and composer Nik Bärtsch was born in Zurich on the ‘3rd’ of August 1971, and by the age of ten was already studying piano and clarinet and later, went the Zurich Musikhochschule. At the University Of Zurich Nik Bärtsch majored in musicology, linguistics and philosophy and also discovered …